poita

Disappointed he left when we were critically short of talls. Could have battled through and played in a premiership at Casey, or pulled the pin earlier and allowed us to find a replacement. Having recently read his book, I hope he is in a good head space and getting the support he needs.

A major disappointment for most of 2022. A great athlete to be sure, but I'm not sure he's a great footballer. Certainly he struggles with some pretty basic fundamentals, amongst some brilliant bits of play. I can see why Fremantle are keen, without wanting to sell the farm for him. I don't think he'll ever be a key forward, and he is undersized as a ruckman. Can he get fit enough and win enough of the ball to play the midfield role Freo want him for? I'm pretty happy to bank two first round picks and move on.

I can't believe people are (a) surprised and (b) complaining about getting two first round picks for Jackson. We have no bargaining power in this deal, and even less so if North commit to using PSD pick 1. Would people prefer Jackson walks to West Coast in the PSD? The Lever deal is absolutely comparable and the Fremantle offer is slightly better than what we gave Adelaide. I'd be taking the two picks today and moving on to other things.

I wouldn't give Lachie Hunter $6 to play football for my team, let alone $600K. Hard pass.

I'd really love to know if we put any work into Wright, because he has been an absolute steal by Essendon.

I thought that the point of trading players was that you improve your list. Letting Hunt walk for pick 52 (a pick we may not use) is a clear step backwards. Getting rid of Harmes for anything other than a top 10 player would be an even bigger step backwards, and even then I would be reluctant given his versatility and cultural importance. If the reason for doing so is to bring in damaged goods such Hunter, then this becomes even more questionable. We have had a good reputation for respecting contracts and looking after players in recent times. Even the faintest hint to a player such as Harmes that he should consider his options whilst under contract is really disappointing. If nothing else, I would hate to be relying on Sparrow or Jordon to step up if we get injuries to one of the big 3 in the midfield.

I can think of at least ten players I'd move on before Hunt, including both Smiths, McVee, and Hibberd in similar roles. Disappointing decision by the club not to look after him.

I'm no fan of Bedford, and wish him well at GWS, but I find it really concerning that we now have three players who have been offered contracts for 2023 and have then asked to be traded. Presumably that is opportunity for Bedford, money and certainty for Hunt and family for Jackson, but at least two of those we should have been able to manage. It's great that we have been able to sign Petracca and Oliver on long term contracts, but overall our list and player management has been so so at best. And now we are starting to see the consequences of this.

I'm particularly interested in the element of culture that says Geelong, Richmond and other contenders have a massive chunk of their salary cap available to pursue high profile free agents every second year, whilst our better players are signed on huge dollars which restricts our ability to improve our list.

Any regular Casey viewers have thoughts on the B&F votes? Hard to argue with the top 4 -5 players, but I thought Brown, Bedford, Tomlinson and Weideman all had better years than Laurie and probably Woewodin as well. Well done to Munro, Dunstan and White who carried the team to a premiership and were deservedly top 3 in the B&F.

Playing 40 of 49 games across the past two years, including missing games through injury in late 2021, suggests Jayden is clearly a best 22 player. Our VFL depth is so poor, we can't afford to be losing best 22 players for nothing, as there are no replacements coming through. I really hope we make him a decent offer and he chooses to stay. I would hate to be relying on a 33 year old Hibberd or a brittle Smith to be playing many games next year, and I'm not sure we can afford to have Bowey in that role long term.

1. Oliver (by a large margin) 2. Petracca 3. Viney 4. Brayshaw 5. May

Yep, we need to get our percentage back above Adelaide, or we're looking at playing finals interstate. It would be really nice to belt Freo again this time around. West and Purcell have sorted out our contested ball issues, but now we struggle to move the ball with any speed. A couple of line breaking mids / HBFs would be ideal. Maybe Goldrick when she gets back to full fitness or Heath if we push her back up the ground. I think this is a major reason why we stop scoring after half time. Slow ball movement allows teams to get numbers back, and our kicking is not good enough to consistently find targets inside forward 50.

I'm not surprised that De Goey is pushing back against any ambiguity in his contract. Collingwood have repeatedly shown in recent years that their contracts aren't worth the paper they are written on. Treloar and Grundy are prime examples of this. You wouldn't want to get two years into a contract, have Collingwood decide they don't want you any more, and then have the contract torn up because you sneeze in a meeting or something equally trivial.

Surely if player and club are both keen to join up, they find a way to make it happen. 5 year contract for $3M? Smooth the $1.6M over a few extra years.

We have way too many NQR small forwards on our list and if one (or two) of them lands us a decent draft pick, we should definitely make the move. You can't have four small forwards but only one midfielder developing at Casey.

All of these clubs and leagues rely heavily on volunteers who receive very little support. It is not much fun begging local businesses or councils for support, or even for basic facilities and resources. Many volunteers haven't come back after Covid for various reasons. The administration of clubs and leagues has suffered as a result, and this has a trickle down effect to the coaches and players. If the players and coaches don't have a good environment to work in, they'll either go elsewhere or leave the game entirely. My son's junior team is a good example of some of the issues. His team had 25 players registered last year. They were graded poorly and ended up losing most games by big margins. They lost 7 of those players in the offseason because it wasn't fun being flogged each week - most will never come back. They had 19 players this year, but played with 14 - 16 most weeks. Combined losses in the first 3 weeks were over 300 points, but the league wouldn't re-grade the team until we begged and pleaded for help. The club simply doesn't have the resources to support all it's teams, and in our case it is the younger kids who are suffering. Ultimately there are a small number of very large clubs in the league that dominate with multiple teams in all age groups and wield all the power. The other clubs are just there to make up the numbers in a lot of respects, but many will go under without support.

Sure, we've got no genuine midfield depth, no key forward depth, and no ruck depth, so let's get rid of our key defender depth as well. You can't fairly judge players first year back from a knee reconstruction, especially when they don't get the benefit of a full pre season. I'd be disappointed if this move was made, unless there is something seriously good coming back the other way.

I see that the AFL has now changed the voting system for the Gary Ayres Award for 2022. Petracca would have won the 2021 award under the new system - time for Macrae to hand his medal back. "The AFL Coaches Association has announced a change to the vote weighting for the Gary Ayres Award for this season, with any Grand Final votes issued to receive a 1.5 times loading." https://www.afl.com.au/news/846941/gary-ayres-award-cats-superstar-s-perfect-10-swans-duo-in-hunt

Dunkley is worth pick 15 plus additional picks / players, which takes out more than half of the Ashcroft points. Plus Brisbane need points for Fletcher. They will have to lose multiple best 22 players to make all this happen.

Brilliant performance by the Casey Demons yesterday and across the entire season, and they are much deserved premiers for 2022. So happy for Mitch White & Jimmy Munro in particular, these are the types of people that great football clubs are built around. It was great to see the likes of Dunstan, Chandler, Brown, Tomlinson and Weideman continuing to put their heart and soul into their performances at Casey, despite the lack of senior opportunities provided this year. Rewarding strong performers at VFL level is something that has to improve in 2023. Melksham's effort upon returning to the side was first rate. Van Rooyen, Turner and Woewodin look really good prospects for 2023 and beyond, and hopefully they get plenty of opportunities to step up. I'm less enthused about Laurie, Rosman, Howes, McVie and Moniz-Wakefield. These guys still look a long way off being able to impact at VFL level, let alone step up to AFL level. Hopefully we draft some midfielders this year, because the depth below Dunstan is non-existent, and he clearly isn't in Goodwin's plans.

Cripps has more Brownlow medals than he has played finals matches - read into that what you will. Nevertheless he shouldn't have been eligible to win and he shouldn't have been playing in round 23 to get the winning 3 votes. Still a better result than Neale winning would have been.

Ben Brown would benefit from kicks coming in low and fast and being able to compete 1 out against his opponent. I'm not sure anyone would thrive with the ball being dumped on their head and six defenders hanging off them. Age aside, is Josh Corbett really an upgrade on Mitch Brown?

I don't see the upside in McVee, Rosman or D.Smith. I'm not sure why we should persist with any of these (and yes, I know some are contracted for next year). Daw has gone, and unfortunately M.Brown will follow, although hopefully we can keep him at Casey. Moniz-Wakefield and Howes will be given more time. Laurie would want to improve significantly in his third year. I'm hopeful on Woewodin and Van Rooyen could be anything. Baker will go. I'd be happy to see J.Smith moved on as well given his lack of durability. Weideman probably stays as emergency ruck backup given that the club is averse to recruiting in this area. At least one of Bedford / Chandler will hopefully be traded. Unfortunately Spargo won't go with them. If Hibberd and Melksham get new contracts, it should only be after the pre season draft. I'm happy to keep Hunt. Clearly the key is to turn Jackson into a couple of players who can help improve us for next season and to boost our key forward and ruck stocks.

I don't think Goldrick is expected to play, but hopefully we get Gay back. We look light on for a contest up forward without Harris - perhaps L.Pearce spends more time forward. We really need Bannan to get more involved and Hore to take her chances. Our last three quarters against St Kilda were pretty ordinary, so hopefully we will bounce back in a big way. A huge wind at Casey Fields would help no end.